


The Dark Pages

by HouseRiverBoat



Category: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Genre: Bad Puns, Comedy, Gen, Memes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 17,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23065612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HouseRiverBoat/pseuds/HouseRiverBoat
Summary: Eileen was a human who one day found herself turned into a Cyndaquil now she finds herself lost in a strange new world, she will make friends but realize that there is more to them than meets the eye.Disclaimer: Don't own Pokémon, purely for entertainment, and also by extension, there's many memes in this story, so if you don't like memes, advise not reading.
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue

“Almost there!” said Chespin as he reached the peak of a cliff. He peered urgently behind him and saw a band of Sneasel silently and smoothly ascending from behind, their clawed feet gouging traces into the snowy ground. “Halt outlaw!” yelled the lead Sneasel, “There’s nowhere for you to run and we have you 4 to 1! Come peacefully or we shall subdue you with force!” Chespin stood at the edge of the snowy precipice and quickly gauged his surroundings. It was a 40 meter sheer drop to the valley below. The evergreen forests white-covered trees stretched and filled the valley.

Chespin turned to face the Rescue Team over his shoulder as they closed in. “I like those odds… ,” he then growled at the advancing Sneasel causing them to falter momentarily, reducing their attack statistics. Taking advantage of the situation, Chespin lunged towards the lead Sneasel lashing out with a _Vine Whip_ , landing a solid blow against their head, forcing them to back up. In fury, the other Sneasel retaliated with their claws, _Scratch_ ing Chespin, raking him in four different places on his arms. “Arrrrrrgggh! That hurt! You’ll pay for this!”.

After a flurry of exchanging _Vine Whip_ s and _Scratch_ es, the Sneasel backed Chespin further up the cliff, almost at the edge. Chespin, breathing heavily from his injuries and exertion, reaches into his Treasure Bag, and whips out a Blast Seed. Seeing this the Lead Sneasel yell out in shock: “He’s got a Blast Seed! Fall back!”

“If I’m going down I’m taking you lot with me!” Chespin screamed as he hurls the Blast Seed at the approximate centre. The Blast Seed, true to its nature, immediately detonated in a blast of snow, dirt and pebbles. The lead Sneasel is engulfed in the blast as the shock wave throws the rest back against the mountainside knocking them out. The blast also flung Chespin off the cliff. Chespin hugs his Treasure Bag closer to his body as he falls … 

* * *

_Boom!!_

“Gah!” exclaimed Eileen in surprise, as she heard a thump somewhere to her left. As she tried to pick herself up, she realised that her arms were a lot shorter now. Looking down at herself, she yelped in disbelief as her eyes took in her new form, instead of hands she had paws! Her beige skin‒‒yellow and cyan fur! Her nose elongated! As claws protruded from her pads, her eyes popped out as she began to absorb her current situation in the grip of mixed horror and curiosity. “Wha?” She began rapidly twisting around to inspect her new body. (What’s going on? Where am I? Or what am I even? I look like some kind of anteater!) Thinking this, she felt unusually warm despite the wintry conditions.

Looking at her surroundings, she spotted smoke rising from a nearby cliff. (Looks like a recent explosion. There might be people nearby. That sound earlier might be someone who got hurt, they might need help! Let’s head towards them.)

Dashing awkwardly through the snow, Eileen made her way to where the sound originated from.


	2. Chapter 2

Chespin lay in a snowbank disorientated by the explosion. (Well that was lucky I was certain that I would be killed! Thank Arceus.) Chespin shook his head from side to side but the disorientation persisted. (I think I need to rest for a bit longer, it looks like that blast took out that pesky Rescue Team heh.)

Eileen had mastered the manner of walking on four legs. Although she had to do it consciously and she stumbled as fast as she could muster across the snow-covered ground. The slippery surface did nothing to aid her in her movements as she made her way towards the general direction of the sound.

The trees started to thin out as she reached what she assumed was the edge of the forest. (I’ve become so tiny compared to these trees.) She took care climbing over the large roots of the older trees, and eventually the trees cleared out, forming into a gentle inclination of a snowy bank of the valley which shored up to a steep ridge on a cliff far above. (Well if there is anyone caught in the explosion up there I won’t be able to reach them.)

She looked around, she noticed, further up ahead was a small depression in the snow that looked a bit queer. Slowly approaching, she noticed a brown clawed foot, then a second foot. (There’s someone here!) She quickened her pace and in her haste, tripped over her front left paw, and fell flat on her nose. “Yowch … !”

Chespin opened his eyes still blurry from his fall. Instantly, with an unnatural strength, his body wound like a coil as he leapt to his feet, preparing for a fight as he brandished his claws and stared down menacingly at his would-be attacker, only to find a defenseless Cyndaquil face-planted into the snow. (What the?)

Eileen shook herself and got up on her paws. On the first try, she failed, her front left paw bending awkwardly. As she fell back to the earth, she felt a slight sprain in her paw. Trying again, she succeeded. While trying to balance herself, she suddenly felt a jolt of pain run up her left leg, wincing in pain, she was forced to shift her weight to her other leg. (Gah! That hurt! I ought to be more careful next time.)

Chespin looked down at this weird Cyndaquil hopping around on three feet. “Are you … hurt?” (Is this a friend or a foe? If it were a foe this has to be the most pathetic one yet.)

Eileen looks up at the green … spiky _rabbit_ , a look of shock dominating her expression. (What? Did that thing just talk?!) Open-mouthed, she looked at the _rabbit_. “You can talk?!”

“Of course I can talk,” replied Chespin, feeling mildly insulted and provoked by the thought he might be an animal. “All Pokémon can talk, you ignorant Cyndaquil. Have you been living under a rock or something? Have you never met another Pokémon before?”

“What’s a Pokémon? Is it something I can eat?” Eileen asked.

“If they’re weak, yes,” replied Chespin. “It’s a Pokémon eat Pokémon world. What did you expect? Magikarp and Staraptor being friends like those softies in Lively Town?”

“What is a Magikarp? Staraptor? Lively Town?” asked Eileen, feeling confused, as if Chespin had hit her with a _Confuse Ray_. (The first two sound like names the third sounds like a place.) “Can you take me to this Lively Town?”

“Heck no,” scoffed Chespin, brushing himself off. (She doesn’t look like a threat. If she’d seen my face on the wanted posters, she’d have recognized me by now. Then again I may need another useful idiot back at the lair.) “Only losers go there and I’m not a loser!”

“Can I go where you’re going then?” Eileen asked. (If I am to get home I need to get to a more civilised place.) She looked at the spiky green _rabbit_ in hope. “I don’t know how to get out of this forest.”

“Then how’d you get in?” Chespin _Leer_ ed.

“I don’t know, I just woke up here, [redacted].”

“[redacted]?” Chespin stared blankly at the Cyndaquil. “I have literally no idea what you said. Are you sure you didn’t hit your head or something?”

“[redacted],” said Eileen impatiently. “Which part of that did you not understand?”

“Everything,” said Chespin. (Well this one is really an idiot. Might be useful for throwing off the cops, could feed them with faulty information.)

_Rustle! Rustle! Rustle!_ There was an audible movement approaching from the south. Chespin heard this and realized with a start: (I’d recognize those sounds anywhere! An Exploration Team, only those idiots would walk into here as if they owned the place. I’d skedaddle quickly.) He gathered up all his things and prepared to make a break for it, when Eileen said:

“Where are you going?” as if she had not heard the rustling.

It was at this moment Chespin knew he needed to take this Cyndaquil with him. (This dim-witted individual doesn’t seem like the type to keep her mouth shut. She’d give them wind of my being here.)

“Oh… uh I was just headed back to my uh… camp, yes! Would you like to tag along? We have food there since it sounded like you were hungry.” Chespin asked, faking sincerity in his voice.

Eileen’s stomach growled. “Food?” She was starving! How long ago had she eaten? It would be since [redacted], wouldn’t it? “Yes! I’d like that!” She said trying to not sound too eager.

“Yes, but we must go quickly,” said Chespin urgently. “If not all the food will be all gone.”

“Gone?” Eileen gasped in horror. “I can be quick! Let’s go!!!”

Chespin said, “Follow me then,” and as he turned his back he let his face momentarily collapse into a look of frustration. Then he looked over his shoulder with a bright grin that met his eyes, and said, “Well, come on! Time’s a wastin’! Time and tide wait for no Pokémon.”

“Don’t you mean time and tide wait for no _man_?” corrected Eileen.

“What's a ‘man’?” said Chespin. “You really must have knocked your head real hard,” he said dismissively. “Come on! I don’t want to be late!”

“Alright, alright, I’m coming … ”


	3. On The Road To Snowy Forest

“Wait,” called Eileen, “what’s your name?” She laboured, not used to walking long distances with these curious paws: and they had been walking for a _long_ time. Maybe hours?

“Chespin,” he grunted, “I’m uh… an explorer. You?” (This should be the right way.) He looked along the snowy trees, and peered behind him anxiously, though he kept it out of his face and voice. He hadn’t heard any more telltale rustlings but he had to keep guard.

“I’m Eileen,” said Eileen.

“That’s a strange name for a Pokemon, and a Cyndaquil, at that. Normally they go in for names like Blaze, _Ember_ , Flame and all that. Why _Eileen_? I’ll just call you Skiddo. Hey Skiddo, where are you from?”

“[redacted],” replied Eileen without missing a beat.

“What? I couldn’t hear you. Speak up! Where’s [redacted]?”

“[redacted]!” Eileen said, a bit louder this time.

“What?” Chespin shook his head. It was useless. He didn’t know what she was talking about. It might be an obscure village. It wouldn’t further his ideals. (Along this tree, down this “hop”, and across this little iced up creek. The lookout spot should be near here… )

“Ditto!” shouted Chespin, looking around at the trees.

“Ditto!” echoed Eileen, also looking around, but the trees all looked like an endless repeating pattern. Eileen looked around expecting something to happen. Chespin looked at her and smirked and said, “Turn around.”

Eileen turned around and came face-to-face with … herself?! (Oh my god my eyes are dots!)

“Omae wa mou shindeiru!”

“Nani?” exclaimed Eileen, leaping backwards suddenly as she saw herself transforming into a swordlike white origami, as it lunged towards her. Eileen screamed in terror and tried to turn and dash away but she slipped on the ice.

“Stop,” ordered Chespin.

“Hahaha, you gotta admit it was a good joke. Especially the Kartana part,” the white origami spoke, and then collapsed inwards into a pink blob of slime. Between the slime and the sword, Eileen couldn’t decide which was worst as she lay, knocked out on the floor.

“Did anybody come by, Ditto?” asked Chespin seriously.

“No,” spoke Ditto. “The dungeon hasn’t spit out anyone and hasn’t frozen over either. You can go in.”

“Alright if you spot anything suspicious remember to raise the alarm. We have a code amber.”

“Code Amber? That sounds cool,” Eileen muttered. She still didn’t quite forgive this ‘Ditto’ person for the jumpscare earlier. She kept a more than respectful distance away from the slimeball.

“Will do, sir,” said the Ditto, as he transformed into a Pancham to get arms to do a mock salute with a stupid grin on his face as the leaf in his mouth.

“Just do your job! That’s all I pay you for,” said Chespin in a mildly frustrated tone. “That and to keep your trap shut.”

“Do explorers normally need security?”

“No,” Chespin fast talked, “this is just a pit stop for explorers to rest their weary feet before they embark on the next leg of their journey. We’ve tarried here long enough, let’s be on our way. I’ll see you soon, Ditto.”

“Of course,” said Ditto, transforming into a Spheal. “I’ll Sealeo-u around.” He winked, and then started rolling, singing, “They see me rollin’~♪! They hatin’~♪!”

Eileen noticed that Chespin was struggling to not throw up from that horrendous pun.

“Let’s go,” said Chespin. “Everytime I talk to Ditto, I need a week to recover.” He then walks toward the entrance of the Mystery Dungeon muttering under his breath. “ _Sealeo-u_? That’s a new low.”

Eileen was spared throwing up due to her empty stomach but mainly the lack of knowledge saved her. She padded after Chespin and Chespin led her to a clearing. In the centre of the clearing there was a grey stone statue of some kind of kangaroo. It looked like it was chiselled specially and looked ancient. On its neck hung a string with a sign attached, reading: 

KANGASKHAN STORAGE

OUT OF BUSINESS

THANK YOU FOR YOUR YEARS OF PATRONAGE

COME TO CAFÉ CONNECTION TO CONTINUE SUPPORTING KANGASKHAN

“Who’s Kangaskhan?” asked Eileen, peering at the marsupial creature. The grey statue towered over her.

“That statue is a lookalike of Kangaskhan. She used to run the biggest storage company in the world until someone invented the storage box and put her out of business. Well, it was profitable to me.” Chespin muttered under his breath, “After all, boxes don’t ask questions. We’re about to enter the Mystery Dungeon. Are you prepared?”

“Mystery Dungeon? What’s that?” Eileen asked, as she looked beyond the clearing into the darkness of the dungeon.

“You don’t know what a Mystery Dungeon is? Where _did_ you come from? Anyway, this is a Mystery Dungeon. They are weird places that don’t seem to follow the laws of physics. The layout of the dungeon changes every time you enter it. The Dungeon is divided into floors and to proceed you will have to find a staircase somewhere on the level. In the dungeon, there are Pokémon. These are a dreary bunch that lash out at anyone who tries to pass through the Dungeon. You will often find items on the floor of the dungeon, they are often quite useful to us explorers.”

“I don’t think that sounds safe … or nice.” 

“Think of the food,” Chespin replies. (She seems to love food. I better remember to give her some gummis so she trusts me.) “Here, take this for now to settle your stomach.” He reaches into his Treasure Bag, and pulls out an Oran Berry. “Eat this.”

Eileen stares at the blue berry, whose surface is dotted with darker shade of blue and green stem. “What’s that?”

“Just eat it. You need to be in peak condition for this Mystery Dungeon. Trust me,” said Chespin, holding out the berry insistently—no, _invitingly_ towards Eileen. The berry called out to her, _Eat me, just end my pitiful existence. Please!_. “It’s sweet, I promise.”

“Get ready to fight,” added Chespin, as an afterthought. “The Pokémon in here don’t take prisoners and won’t give any quarter. It’s a Pokémon eat Pokémon world after all.”

Eileen gulped. “How do I fight?”

Chespin looked at her blankly. For once he was stumped. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Chespin eventuated. “If not you’ll die.” (And if you do, you would have been a great distraction.) “Come on,” Chespin said, as he plunged into the depths of Snowy Mountain.

Eileen gulped again, then entered behind Chespin. (This seems dangerous, but it is the final stretch of our journey if what Chespin says is true there is safety past this point. Alright, I’m ready, onward … to food!)


	4. Snowy Forest

Entering the dungeon, Eileen felt its quietness. The air in the dungeon was charged with energy and somewhere in her bones she felt like it was different. For some inexplicable reason the layout of the forest seemed to conform to rooms and corridors, too straight to be anything natural. Eileen looked behind her; the way back had somehow closed up and there was no escape. The trees nestled too close to each other even to pass through, Eileen realized. (I feel trapped. Is there really food at the end of the dungeon?)

Chespin was already inspecting the paths, and turned to Eileen, seemingly deciding something. He looked over to Eileen, and said, “Well? Left or right?” as he pointed to two different corridors at the ends of the room-like clearing.

“What do you mean, left or right?” Eileen asked, “don’t you know the way?”

“Did you forget what I told you? Mystery dungeons are randomized. Each dungeon isn’t going to be the same as the last time you entered it. Now, left or right?”

“Left,” ventured Eileen, after looking at both paths. But this itself was a futile attempt, as both corridors were darkened and she could barely see beyond a metre or two. The corridors were barely wide enough for her and Chespin to walk abreast so she looked at Chespin, about to ask the marching order, but she saw him holding a piece of paper and some sort of chalky pencil. “What are you doing?”

“What am I doing?” Chespin said a little preoccupied so he wasn’t being snarky this time, “I’m drawing a map. You wouldn’t want to go around in circles did you? There, completed. Well get going,” Chespin said, “since I’m drawing, you lead.” (And take any hits for me.)

“But I can’t see where I’m going,” said Eileen. “It’s all dark in there.”

“So?” shrugged Chespin. “That’s how most dungeons work. They’re _dungeons_ after all. Pick up the pace.” (Else the rescue teams might find us. I don’t want to spend time in jail … I hope I can find another Blast Seed, I’ve run out.)

Eileen gulped for the third and certainly not the last time. “Didn’t you say Mystery Dungeons were dangerous?”

“So you do remember some things I’ve said,” Chespin answered. “Well, do you have a choice? We can’t leave any more. You take the front and I’ll take the rear. Fair, isn’t it?”

(No that doesn’t sound fair at all.) “I guess so?”

Chespin gave her a bright smile. “You get the picture. Chop, chop, Skiddo. It’s a rather short dungeon. Three floors only. Keep out on the lookout for staircases.”

Reluctantly, Eileen peered down the left path, and slowly made her way down the passage. Each inch of the corridor looked like the next inch, and the passage bent twice before she could see a vague light at the end of the tunnel. “I see the light ahead! Is that the exit?” called out Eileen.

“To the corridor? Yes. To the Mystery Dungeon? No, not on your life,” replied Chespin sarcastically. “Come on, Skiddo, we won’t go anywhere if you walk like a Slugma everywhere. Cyndaquil are normally quick, I want to see some speed.”

“What’s a Slugma?” wailed Eileen in confusion but she did move quicker towards the light, hope rising in her.

At the end of the tunnel, the room opened into another rectangular clearing. As the light streamed into the clearing, in front of her. The room wasn’t quite wide, and in the corner to the left of her, she saw a towering staircase made of grey stone blocks, seemingly leading to nowhere it reminded her of weird modern art from back home. She narrowed her eyes at it and said, “Why is there a random staircase in the middle of the woods that leads to nowhere? Is this some kind of weird art?”

“No,” said Chespin testily, “didn’t I tell you to look for _staircases_? Anyway move out of the way, I’m still stuck behind you here. … ah, that’s the exit to the next floor … oi! You Stupid Skiddo,” hissed Chespin, “don’t you see _them_?”

Chespin pointed to two Pokémon at the other side of the room, the first being an oversized armadillo made of ice to Eileen’s untrained eye and the second a sort of santa bird? They were looking straight at Eileen and Chespin, and while the armadillo was flexing its sharp claws and the bird was constantly grabbing at its bag, they weren’t moving.

“What are they?” asked Eileen.

“The bird’s a Delibird,” said Chespin, “and the other’s a Sandshrew—its ice-steel form,” said Chespin, sizing up the enemies. (If we take this specific path we might avoid a skirmish … )

“Why are they not moving?” whispered Eileen, suddenly feeling awkward as the two stared across at them.

“It’s a rule. They can’t move unless we move,” shrugged Chespin. “If you don’t obey it, the Mystery Dungeon punishes you. Don’t try it unless you want to be knocked out, Skiddo. Hey Skiddo, do you want to fight?”

“Of course not,” Eileen replied at once. “Assaulting others is wrong.”

Chespin rolled his eyes. “Not in Mystery Dungeons. So if you want to live you will do as I say and maybe, just maybe we will get out of this alright.”

“We’re going to have to engage,” said Chespin, “but we can run away… except that the staircase is in this room. We can let them hit us and run to the staircase.” Chespin gives a sidelong glance at Eileen. “And since you can’t fight … I’ll handle this. Let me show you how it’s done, Skiddo.”

“Show what?”

“OK, I’m getting ready to move,” said Chespin. “You Skiddodaddle you are and don’t look back.” (Damn, Ditto must be rubbing off on me.)


	5. Snowy Forest II: Electric Boogaloo

“On the count of three,” Chespin began, locking eyes with the Delibird and Sandshrew, and drawing his arm across his neck, surreptitiously _Taunt_ ing so that Eileen wouldn’t see. The two looked angry and prepared for a fight.

“3,” said Chespin, as he stared down the wild menace with a steely glare.

“2.” Eileen looked straight towards the staircase doubtfully. (What kind of sorcery is this? What will the stairs do for us?)

“1! _Go!_ ” _Growl_ ed Chespin, simultaneously forcefully shoving Eileen towards the staircase, giving her a slight head start and reducing the enemy’s attack. Eileen held her paws over her head as she sprinted for the stairs, narrowly dodging a stray _Ice Shard_ which missed her by a hair’s breadth as she ran.

Chespin lunged for the Delibird, both of them moving at once: The Delibird reaching for an item in it’s bag and Chespin rushing straight for his quarry. A glint of very recognizable seed was produced, and Chespin’s eyes widened in shock, as Delibird hurled a Blast Seed at Chespin as he ran headlong into it.

_Boom!!_

Eileen looked back towards Chespin only to see a massive dust cloud shrouding the area he was standing only moments before. She was almost to the staircase, but she skidded to a halt. The gas cleared out, and there was Chespin miraculously still standing looking slightly winded. “Are you challenging me?!!!”

Eileen was openmouthed in shock. “Keep running!” yelled Chespin, “why’d you stop?!” as he countered with a _Vine Whip_ at the Sandshrew, though its steely tough scales repelled his _Vine Whip_ and was not very effective.

Eileen sprung and continued running. She reached out a single paw, and slapped the staircase, the scenery instantly changed. She was now standing in a completely different room with Chespin next to her, still brandishing his vines and snarling loudly. (What just happened?)

Chespin put away his vines. “That was close,” he said.

“What do you mean? What just happened?” asked Eileen.

“Nothing big,” said Chespin. “If one Pokémon in a party touches the staircase, the rest of the party is teleported up too. That’s one of the rules of a Mystery Dungeon. Don’t ask me, that’s just how it is. Weird rule, innit? But beneficial to us explorers who explore dungeons.”

Chespin looked around him after having recovered his breath and whistled softly. “Beginner’s luck,” he said, “look at that.” He pointed, and Eileen looked: another grey staircase within the same room. “How convenient. Shall we go up?”

“Okay … ?” says Eileen.

“Just touch the staircase. Let’s go up.”

Hesitantly, Eileen pottered over with Chespin following close behind at the rear. Nothing popped up and Eileen touched the staircase, and then with a dizzying jolt that had accompanied the first, the scenery swam and altered. The staircase was gone, and they were now standing in a really, really _long_ room.

“This is a big room,” said Chespin. “Hey! Look!” Chespin moved forward, and Eileen did as well. “This is something useful for you.” He picked up a bunch of brown rocks from the ground. “These are called Gravelerock. You can throw these at opposing Pokémon.” Chespin picks them up and passes the rocks to Eileen who gingerly accepted them.

“These rocks look really easy to dodge,” commented Eileen.

Chespin shrugged. “Again, the Mystery Dungeon works in mysterious ways. There’s a good chance that they will hit. Well come on, which path do you want to go?” Chespin poised his pencil over another piece of paper.

(Making me go first again … ) Eileen investigated the room. There were two small corridors at the end of the room, but after selecting the right path this time, and creeping along it carefully, they came upon a dead end.

Forced to turn around, Eileen pushed at Chespin, who turned around and was forced out of the way as she retraced their steps. While she shoved Chespin, she felt a little better, although hunger gnawed piercingly at her belly more prominently than before.

Thankfully, although all her senses were on edge, they didn’t encounter any other Pokémon, though Chespin did pick some items off the ground, such as an Oran Berry and what he called a Seed. “Not very useful,” he said, “but sometimes helpful. This is a Warp Seed. If you eat it, you’re automatically warped to another point of the dungeon on the same floor. Only one of you though, so you better hope your partner can get out of his frighteningly sticky situation himself.” (Well, it would be useful if I had to leave Eileen far behind, but we’re almost out of here.)

As Eileen touched the last staircase of the dungeon, she and Chespin both were subjected to the same dizzying sensation before they were teleported into a front of another snowy forest clearing. Eileen lifted up her enormous nose and sniffed the air. The air was no longer charged. Eileen looked behind her, and there was a similar opening of the Mystery Dungeon on the other side—a bunch of trees twisting together into a dark opening.

“Camp’s along this way,” spoke Chespin presently. “Now we’re out of the Mystery Dungeon, I know the way there. I’ll lead: and don’t worry about other Pokémon. Most of the Pokémon we’ll meet hereafter will be peaceful. We’ll be getting food soon,” Chespin grinned at the Cyndaquil.

Eileen groaned. “There’s still a way to _walk_?”

“Sorry Skiddo, nobody sets up camp near a Mystery Dungeon. We might wake up one morning and Mystery Dungeon had extended and made our camp part of a dungeon,” Chespin joked. (Well, obviously I can’t set up camp near a Mystery Dungeon. Too many Exploration Teams come this way.)

“I promise you, it’s only a short walk away. The quicker we get going the faster we’ll reach,” Chespin said ingratiatingly.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming … ” Eileen said, feeling that she had said these words a lifetime ago.


	6. Deep Snowy Forest Camp

Chespin lied. The walk stretched for what felt like hours. They hadn’t talked much after the first ten minutes, and now the silence stretched like a tensed rope: Eileen dared not break it and Chespin did not seem quite aware of her right now.

She simply absorbed the surroundings. Though it wasn’t the same landscape repeating over and over again as it had been in the Mystery Dungeon, the landscape was still indecipherable to her. Trees were spaced out unevenly, and she thought they were the only Pokémon for kilometers. She noticed Chespin kept his bag close to him protectively. He had called it his “Treasure Bag”. (How does that Treasure Bag hold all those items I saw him pick up in the dungeon?) she reflected. (That must be one amazing bag.)

She spent some time thinking over her situation now that she had some time to herself to think. (I am no longer human … what happened to me that I became like this? What did I do? I can’t remember what has happened.) She had a vague inkling she would be sad if she knew but she didn’t.

As she plodded along the path, suddenly she heard a quiet noise of activity.

Chespin grunted, rousing from his deep thoughts. “Finally!” he coughed. “Our camp’s up there.” His voice had changed. It had become rougher and a completely different tone. “Just slightly further.”

As they walked along the path, they passed several Pokémon leaving: a large, great purple cat, a black-orange fox with a band around its eyes, a blue ninja. They all were bigger than her, and while Chespin greeted them and they bowed their heads and murmured their salutations and reported what activities they had done to Chespin, Eileen felt a growing sense of awe. The Pokémon passed her, and they each made her feel like she was being scrutinized—but for what, she was unsure of.

As they approached the camp, as he entered, and the whole fell silent save a blue-and-black bird with a head oddly shaped like a quaver, sing aloud, “Give them the old one-antwo—Chief Chespin! You’ve returned!”

(Chespin is a bigshot? Wow!) thought Eileen.

“My fellow guildmates!” announced Chespin, projecting his voice, “I have returned from my recent expedition and I am proud to tell you all that I have found what we were looking for—yes, I have finally obtained it!” The crowd cheered. “During my expedition, I found this Cyndaquil, her name is Eileen she will be joining us from now on.” The crowd looked to Eileen with a mix of interest and skepticism, what could a mere Cyndaquil do to impress their boss to the point that she joined on her first expedition with him?

“Haunter!” Chespin called out. “I leave Eileen to your care. I have some work in the office to do, surely? Make sure she gets fed and bring some food up to my tent. I will be working through the night and I shall not be disturbed,” he stressed, surveying all the Pokémon surrounding him.

With that, Chespin began heading off at a brisk pace further into the tent-forest and was soon lost to sight. Eileen initially felt the compulsion to follow him but was stopped by a big, purple ghost with two disembodied hands, and a constant jagged smile that gave her the creeps. “My name is Haunter,” said the ghost. Eileen just stared. This ghost was easily ten times her size. (Wait so ghosts are real?)

Haunter in a flash scooped the Cyndaquil up in a swift action, and giggled, “What a tiny creature you are!” Haunter brought their other hand over and tickled Cyndaquil’s stomach. Haunter giggled maniacally again. “So you’re hungry? So am I … ever hungry for more _souls_.” Haunter showed their big red tongue before tucking it back into their tongue.

Eileen was paralyzed with fear even though she had not been _Lick_ ed. The Haunter giggled again. (What’s this maniac’s problem?!) “Did you know that before eating, we have to knock on the table three times and do a little dance by waving our hands up and down,” snickered Haunter. “And we eat wherever our plates are laid out. Once Drifloon put my plate near the privies and I was forced to eat there.”

“Drifloon?” squeaked Eileen, feeling her stomach turn as Haunter deliberately swung from side to side as he carried her. If her stomach wasn’t empty, she would have surely retched by now. As it was, her stomach turned.

“Our lovely little cook Drifloon, who I sometimes want to _Curse_ ,” giggles Haunter, “his meals are _simply_ a delight.”

“Mx. Haunter,” choked out Eileen. “Will you please let me down?”

“No, I don’t think I will,” said Haunter, sniggering. “Come on. Let’s go meet Drifloon.”


	7. Drifloon

Suddenly, Eileen was dangled upside down by Haunter. Her vision cleared and then she saw an upside down purple balloonlike Pokémon with a yellow cross on where its mouth would be, and long stringy hands which had heart-shaped protrusions, where it held a plate with a dozen of apples that seemed to be floating … wait, she was upside down.

“Hiya!” exclaimed the balloon-looking creature upon seeing them. 

“Oh good it’s you,” said Haunter dismissively, “Come take this one off my hands would you? I think the Boss wants this one in one piece.”

“Yes, yes, set her down there, Haunter,” said Drifloon disapprovingly. “Please don’t play your tricks here at the mess tent. I won’t stand for it!” 

“Yeah, yeah, you goody two shoe wussy,” said Haunter, upturning Eileen down as Drifloon instructed, none the two gently as Eileen automatically lurched forward off balance and collapsed. Eileen coughed.

“Here,” spoke Drifloon, “an apple. Eat up! You must be hungry.” The voice was kind as Drifloon proffered an deliciously red apple, glistening in all of its Applin glory.

Eileen grabbed at the red apple, and bit into it. It was exquisite and slipped down her mouth. Though she had some trouble gulping down the apple with her new anatomy. “Here’s another one,” said Drifloon amused, “and come on to the table. There’s enough space for you and more food.”

As Eileen found herself at the table, Drifloon said, “Help yourself.” She began eating the food in earnest. There were Oran Berries, other Apples and other types of berries that were succulent. Surprisingly, there was no meat, and a sympathetic purple starfish-like Pokémon who pushed more food towards invitingly. (What’s up with all these Pokémon being purple?)

A short while later… 

She was stuffed. She gave out a loud satisfied burp, then got embarrassed as she looked around. Then she realized it was dark: the sun had gone down while she had been chowing down away. A hand touched her shoulder softly. Shocked out of her wits, Eileen leapt backwards and fell on her back.

“My, _Skitty_ ish are we,” said Drifloon, hovering above her. “It’s time to sleep. I’ll show you where you can sleep. We have plenty of empty tents and you can borrow one.”

After that gargantuan meal Eileen found it hard to disagree with the idea of sleep, added onto those hours of trekking. “Follow me,” said Drifloon, and guided her through the tents. Drifloon said conversationally, “So, what prompted you to join us?”

“Join?” said Eileen confused.

Drifloon looked at Eileen with a peculiar look. If Drifloon had eyebrows, he would most certainly be raising them now. “You don’t know?”

“Know what?” said Eileen naïvely. “Chespin said that you were explorers or something right?”

“Did he now?”said Drifloon. “Well, then. What else did he say about what we did here?”

“Nothing much,” said Eileen, feeling very sleepy. “Are we going to sleep soon?”

“Yes, the tent is right here,” Drifloon said. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning at breakfast. Get some sleep. There’s a straw bed in there,” Drifloon said gesturing towards a pile of hay stacked in a fashion not to dissimilar to that of a bird’s nest.

Eileen collapsed into the bed, and instantly was in dreamless slumber.

* * *

In a large tent at the centre of the camp, there was an important meeting being conducted. Chespin lounged in his chair. His bodyguard Houndoom stationed to his right and Haunter to his left; Across from him were his lieutenants Pumkaboo, Drapion and Malamar.

“So Pumkaboo, how many months of supplies do we have left?” Chespin asked pointedly.

“Two, three at most,” replied Pumkaboo carelessly as if he’d said “a year.” “But that doesn't matter much, now does it, Chief Chespin?”

Chespin laughed. “ _Ha!_ No, I guess it doesn’t. Now that we are in possession of the Dark Pages, nothing is out of our reach!”

“Chief,” said Malamar, the most measured of the three, “what do you intend to do with the Dark Pages?”

“Write in it,” replied the Drapion, “of course. Why let such a treasure go to waste?”

Houndoom and Haunter kept silent throughout the entire exchange, their eyes glinting, but nothing more.

“Well, Lieutenant Drapion is correct,” spoke Chespin, “and what I’ll write in it is this. Now listen closely, here’s a little lesson in villainy … ”

Even after all the lanterns in the camp were one-by-one switched off, the lantern in Chespin’s tent kept burning until the morning.


	8. Now’s The Day

_ CRASH! _

“WAKE UP!!!”

“Gah!” exclaimed Eileen as she fell out of her bed and landed in a heap on the floor, “What was that?!”

She then registered movement outside her tent as a dragon’s head stuck itself through the lent flap. “UP AND AT ’EM! Breakfast is in 5 minutes!” yelled the large bipedal bipedal grey-gold dragon as it let out a giant roar.

Blurry-minded and bleary-eyed, Eileen sat up on the floor. “I’m awake … ,” she answered with a pitiful expression as her eyes circled around in their sockets. The dragon let out a raspy snort, “Better be!” and slunked off. (Some kind of morning  _ Awakening _ wakeup call … I would have liked some more time to sleep … )

She shook the sleep off herself and yawned as she stumbled out of her tent. She squinted her eyes as the sunlight reflected off the snow struck her eyes. The morning air was chilly but it was comfortable.

She followed the path she took yesterday to the mess tent. Drifloon waved at her with his two stringy arms as she approached the mess tent and pointed to a large cauldron in the middle of the tent. Three Monkeys, red, blue and green, were all around the pot, and serving food to the Pokémon.

Eileen moved closer to Drifloon and whispered, “I thought Haunter said that we have to eat where our plates laid.”

Drifloon looked at her queerly. “I don’t do that,” answered Drifloon quizzically. “Did Haunter trick you? They’re always up to tricks and new ways to mess with Pokémon. Now go get your food before it becomes cold. Cyndaquil don’t usually like cold food.”

Nodding, Eileen made her way towards the cauldron and joined the slowly decreasing queue. Some other sleepier Pokémon joined the queue behind her and quickly the queue surged forwards, as the three monkeys deftly scooped broth into the bowls.

The blue monkey served Eileen slapping broth into a bowl before handing it to her carefully. “Oi, new blood,” he murmured in passing. “Enjoy.”

Eileen graciously accepted the hot bowl. It was pleasantly warm and did not burn her paws and she would have thought. She then turned and trotted gaily after the other Pokémon to find a seat at the dining table.

She sat down squeezed between a rather big long-haired black hyena with a ferocious look on its face and what appeared to be a one-footed owl. She was rather peckish and ate away at her broth eagerly.

The black hyena burped aloud and said, “That hits the spot … Cilantro, Watercress and Chilli really make the best food.”

“Those monkeys?” queried Eileen between mouthfuls.

The black hyena shot her a sidelong glance and said easily, “‘Monkeys’? Yes. Cilantro is the Pansage, Watercress is the Panpour, Chilli is the Pansear.”

“Are they named after their looks?” asked Eileen.

The shaggy hyena took a minute to answer. “Cilantro, Watercress and Chili are common names of the Pan-Monkeys. I wouldn’t know.”

Suddenly a silence fell from the other side off the mess tent and cascaded down to the other end. Eileen, being short, flailed a bit left and right before she could see the instigator—or investigators—of the event:

Chespin and a large black dog with skeletal features and a skull embedded on its neck had graced the mess tent. Chespin walked to the table’s edge, and the black dog followed close at his heels. Chespin looked at the party gathered at the table as the black dog knelt and Chespin got on his back to allow him to better address the party.

“My friends, I have an important matter to announce to you all. For too long we have been scorned by society, forced into the shadows and the far reaches of the world. For too long we have suffered the injustices inflicted upon us at the hands of our so-called societal elites. They who have seen fit to force their ways upon us without a care about how we felt! They who wish to see us ground into the dust and scattered into the winds! Well I say no more! Today we take a stand against those scheming rats, for we have our wonder weapon the Dark Pages!” He exclaimed thunderously as he lifted the sheets of paper into the air for all to see and gaze with wonder. Chespin caressed the pages. “With its power we can strike down our foes and finally claim our place in the sun! No more hiding, no more running, no more cowering. Today we pay them back for all they have done to us tenfold! We shall prevail! So I ask you all who is with me?!”

Eileen felt a mounting sense of dread as Chespin spoke. The crowd of Pokémon cheered all around her as Chespin came to the end of his speech, lifting their hands up in the air or leaping on their feet. Eileen looked around confusedly. (Wha … ?)

(Something is very wrong. This doesn’t feel right, why does it feel like he is going to declare war on the world?)

It was at this moment Eileen knew she messed up… 


	9. Doubt

(This is wrong,) thought Eileen but she did not know how to put it to rights.

She jostled her way towards Chespin and the Pokémon parted ways easily enough since word had spread throughout camp about her arrival, what happened during her arrival and what had been said to her in praise.

Chespin saw her approach and he patted Houndoom. “Could you keep her off my back for a while? That would be greatly appreciated.”

Upon hearing that a sadistic grin appeared on Houndoom’s face. “No, don't kill her. Just convince her to back off for a while.”

The Houndoom stalked forward slowly. Stopping a meter away from Eileen before suddenly sticking their head forward before breathing a lick of flame at the floor only centimeters from Eileen. Seeing this Eileen recoils in shock, scrambling backwards to avoid getting burned. Her reaction elicited a chuckle from Houndoom. “You’re a fire-type and afraid of fire, pathetic!” Houndoom laughed aloud menacingly, mockingly, sneeringly.

“Fire-type?” squeaked Eileen. “What’s that?” As she distanced herself from the Houndoom, keeping well clear of the jaws of the demon dog.

“Ha! This is rich, which rock were you living under?!” Houndoom exclaimed incredulously. “Literally every pokemon should know about typing, it’s literally the first thing they teach you in school.”

“[redacted],” said Eileen.

“[redacted]? Never heard of it before,” scoffed Houndoom. “If this is a joke, it’s a pretty bad one.”

“But it’s the truth!” wailed Eileen. “You’ve got to believe me!”

“Believe you? I’ll believe you when Magikarp fly Staraptor,” said Houndoom, scoffing at Eileen.

“Do you mean when pigs fly?” asked Eileen.

“Don’t be silly pigs don’t exist!” replied Houndoom. “They’re mythical creatures!” He pounced forward, _Leer_ ing at Eileen. “Know your place worm! You are the lowest of the low here! Until you have proven yourself, don’t speak to our Chief again!”

_Gulp._ “Y-yes, of c-course!”

Houndoom huffed a tendril of smoke before turning and leaping away in one fluid motion, fire licking the edges of his paws, leaving a melted mark of snow.

“We set out tomorrow at dawn!” screamed Chespin, “make ready and make haste! We will engage Lively Town at high noon! No more shulking in the dark—we will attack them directly, and once claim victory we shall bask in the light of the sun!”

The crowd re-erupted into a loud tumult of cheers as Chespin made his departure swiftly upon Houndoom, vanishing quickly into the tents.

Immediately all the Pokémon beside Eileen fell to talking about the upcoming battle.

“I wonder if I have enough Reviver Seeds … ” “There won’t be a need, the Dark Pages will give us unlimited power!” “I can’t wait to sink my teeth into Meowth! That’ll teach him to not make bad movies!” “I’ll bring my lucky charm!”

The tumult of chatter overwhelmed Eileen. The crowd was no showing signs of dispersing as the Pokémon discussed plans, chattered, as well as the quaver-headed bird was flying and now singing a song at the top of its voice, positively _Hyper Voice_ -ing:

“It’s over Lively Town, we have the high ground!”

Ditto appears close to Eileen. “You underestimate our power!” he bellows before altering his form into Ampharos. “Don’t try it!”

The Pokémon around them laughed at the comedy routine as a Sylveon tackled the Ditto-Ampharos into the ground.

Eileen inched away from the mock-fight, and looked around with apprehension. (This is wrong. I need to get to Lively Town. These guys are crazy. But how?)

There was a gentle tap on her shoulder. Drifloon was at her side. “Let’s go pick some Oran Berries for the trip.” He said as he winked at her. “We’ll need it to heal ourselves during the battle.”

Eileen couldn’t find a good reason to refuse and nodded glumly. Drifloon said, “This way,” the purple balloon spoke, leading her from the camp full of Pokémon into the wilderness.


	10. The Escape

Drifloon led her quite a ways from camp.

“Is it safe to go this far from camp?” asked Eileen.

“Yes. Pokémon outside Mystery Dungeons are usually quite tame,” said Drifloon. “Besides that show of force, of course,” added Drifloon offhandedly. “There hasn’t really been a battle of that scale for a long time in history.” Drifloon pointed. “Those are the berry bushes. Let’s gather some.”

Eileen began to pick at the berries and placed them into the basket Drifloon had brought, one-by-one. Eileen looked at Drifloon and thought, (Drifloon is very friendly. Maybe I can ask him some questions, maybe even help.)

“Drifloon, where is Lively Town?” asked Eileen.

“You don’t know?” Drifloon returned, surprised, and not the last character to be. “Lively Town is the largest settlement on this continent. It’s located on the eastern coast of the Water Continent, it’s also the only place where you can get Lapras to take you to the other continents.”

“Why are we attacking Lively Town?” inquired Eileen.

Drifloon looked at Eileen curiously. “Don’t you have a grudge against Lively Town?”

“No, I just arrived here yesterday.” Eileen shook her head from side to side. “I’m confused. This world’s so new to me. I didn’t even know what a Pokémon was before yesterday.”

“Wha … ?” said Drifloon.

“I’m a human,” said Eileen, answering the unspoken question in Drifloon’s balloony face.

“A human,” said Drifloon. It was not a question. Drifloon turned away and picked at the berries.

Silence filled the space between the both of them as they picked away at the berries. Eileen slowly getting used to using her paws for manual work.

As Eileen and Drifloon surveyed the full basket of Oran Berries, Drifloon said, “Eileen. Would you like to go to Lively Town with me?”

Eileen’s mouth opened and closed like a fish. “Go to … Lively Town?”

“Yes. Would you?”

(Anything to get away from these crazies.) “Yes.”

Drifloon leaned closely and whispered. “I’m a spy.” Eileen’s eyes widened in amazement. “I’m going back to Lively Town now to inform them of the attack. Since you want to come with me, I’ll take you too.”

Eileen nodded, breathless. “What do I have to do?”

“Well,” Drifloon said, “nothing much. Just hold onto this basket of Oran Berries, will you? Thank you!” he went as Eileen grasped at the berry basket. “Now, sorry, but this is the only way. I need to hold onto you … ” Eileen felt his heart-shaped hands and stringy arms wrap around her.

“You’re going to carry me? With those arms?”

“Yes, I’m stronger than I look. Now, ready? I’m going up now!”

Suddenly, Eileen’s paws lost traction with the ground. She realized she was levitating off the ground and within moments, they were out of the trees and were ascending the sky.

“Wooaa—” screams Eileen. Drifloon chuckled. They began to move in a specific direction.

“Eileen, quickly, drop the Oran Berries. It’ll help me go faster due to my _Unburden_ ability,” requested Drifloon. “I will be able to go twice as fast and we will be able to reach Lively Town early in the afternoon.” Eileen quickly complied, letting the Oran Berries go until there was only the basket left.

“Which direction are we going?” yelled Eileen.

“I don’t know my north from my south, my east from my west, but I do know that I’m going the right way,” said Drifloon, who was not convincing at all. “Even if I did, you wouldn’t understand. Just trust me. If we can’t find Lively Town we’ll find explorers that can send us to Lively Town.”

“How do they do that?” yelled Eileen over the sound of the wind.

“They use their Exploration Badges, it can teleport Pokemon to safety. Wonderful stuff isn’t it? I left mine at home, otherwise I would use it.”

“Just focus on not dropping me!” squealed Eileen, looking down and realizing the sheer drop that awaited her should she fall. “That’s a long way down … ” She said with nervous laughter.

“Shush, I won’t let you fall,” soothed Drifloon, “but yes, less talking. I need to stay focused on the way home.”

After an indiscernible amount of time had passed, Eileen squinted and saw in the distance a small black dot. “There’s someone over there!”

“Yes,” said Drifloon, but shortly, since he was getting tired. “I hope it’s a rescue team,” he said afterward. “I’m going to move towards them.”

Drifloon angled his path towards the dot and speeded towards it, using several _Agility_ -ies to aid him. The dot grew into a grey feathered bird with a reddened mohawk and as they grew closer still, there seemed like a large contraption attached to their back.

“It’s Staraptor!” said Drifloon joyfully. “And her partner, Magikarp! The well-known rescue team called Tancc is formed by them. Their team motto is: ‘She protecc, the attacc, but most importantly, she put Magikarp in tancc.’”

The rescue team seemed to be flying straight towards them as well. After some distance had been further closed, Eileen realized that the contraption on its back was actually a well-secured water-tank, with an orange, long-whiskered fish in it. Drifloon and Staraptor both paused in the air, one hovering and the other beating her wings.

“Drifloon,” said the high-pitched voice of the Staraptor. The Magikarp jumped out of their water tank to shout, “Yolo!” before _Splash_ ing right back into their tank. “Has your mission been a success?”

“Yes and no,” said Drifloon. “This is Eileen,” he quickly introduced to the Staraptor and the Magikarp before revealing that Chespin had the Dark Pages and was planning to storm Lively Town the very next day. “Can you use your exploration badge to send us back?”

“Sure thing. We’ll even come with you if the situation is as dire as you have described it,” consented the Staraptor easily. “Magikarp, beam us back to the guild, will you?”

The Magikarp _Bounce_ d up and yelled: “Where’s my _Thank-you_?!”

The Staraptor rolled her eyes and said, “Thank you.”

“Easy does it!” the Magikarp yelled, and as it leapt, wagged its tail fin and turned sidelong, and displayed a golden badge prominently on its orange scales. Immediately, a bright blue light swept across and engulfed Eileen, Drifloon, Staraptor and Magikarp in its strong ray, and:

_Whoosh!_


	11. Expedition Society

Walls of a building and an actual beige stone floor materialized beneath the feet of Eileen. Shaking the disorientation off herself, she turned around and saw purple cobbled walls and plenty of Pokémon activity going around them.

“Welcome to the Expedition Society!” chirruped Staraptor, flapping her wings up and down and then swaying in happiness, left and right. “Here is where all expedition teams and all rescue teams congregate and gather. It’s the best spot to tell your news.”

Drifloon, “Yes, I agree,” but his words were so laborious, and so slow. “Ampharos should be here somewhere.”

“Are you alright, Drifloon?” asked Eileen concerned, as she saw the Drifloon sink low to the ground, his hands brushing the along the floor. Eileen got the impression that he was a balloon sagging due to the loss of helium.

“I’ll be alright for now,” said Drifloon. “Let’s go meet Ampharos. He should be around here somewhere.”

“‘ ‘Somewhere’ ?” asked Eileen.

“Up the stairs, and when you reach the blue orb, turn right!” chirruped the Staraptor, and the Magikarp _Splash_ ed and said “That’s right!”

“Will you be okay?” asked Eileen as she nudged Drifloon.

“There’ll need to be someone to validate your account. I can sleep after,” Drifloon spoke.

Eileen looked doubtful. “Are you coming?” Eileen to the Staraptor and Magikarp.

“No,” Staraptor replied. “But we’ll see you later. We have to prepare for the upcoming battle after all.” With a great mighty wingbeat, the Staraptor departed, and the Magikarp yelled, “ _Cheerio_!”

Eileen looked at Drifloon and then huffed. Then she ascended the stairs, finding the way a bit difficult since she had to adapt her four-legged walking style to accommodate the stairs. After some awkward maneuvering, she climbed to the top and saw the semi-transparent holographic orb that Staraptor had spoken of, which slightly dazzled her eyes.

“How does that work?” she inquired of Drifloon.

“That?” said Drifloon, with his eyes half-lidded. “That’s the Pokémon Nexus… it’s the neuron network that connects devices such as connection orbs together so that Pokémon can communicate over long distances … the holographic rays are said to be made of a certain kind of crystal that focuses a light beam on the … ” Drifloon began to rant, half unaware of his surroundings as he began to explain the intricacies and extricaices of the Connection Nexus. “I used to be a hacker on the network and boy I can tell you … ”

“Who are you, who are so wise in the ways of science?” interrupted Eileen, not wholly interested in this conversation and also not understanding the technicalities of Drifloon’s explanation.

She hurried over to the left door and looked into the room. There was a weird rodent animal, with its tail twice—maybe thrice?—of its body length that was carrying documents that was discussing with another Pokémon just out of view. The rodent looked leftwards, and noticed Eileen.

“Oh! May I help you?” asked the rodent pleasantly. “I’m Dedenne.” Then her eyes inched over to Drifloon and she gave a cry of dismay. “Drifloon! What happened to you?!” said Dedenne.

“Nothing much,” said Drifloon tiredly. “I just carried this Cyndaquil, Eileen, for quite a distance. I’m just very tired. There’s a matter we need to inform the Chief of immediately. He’s here, isn’t he?”

“Of course I am!” said the big yellow kangaroo-sheared-sheep creature as he came into Eileen’s view. He sees Eileen:

“I am Ampharos! Known far and wide as … the Dashing Wanderer!” Ampharos struck his pose, one of his flippered hands raised high in the air as he leaned backwards. “And what brings you here, young Eileen and Drifloon?”

“Ah,” said Eileen as the Ampharos looked at both of them expectantly. Realizing that Drifloon wasn’t about to talk since he was already so tired, Eileen began: “Well … uh … people are coming to attack Lively Town tomorrow at noon!!”


	12. The Calm Before The Storm

“Are you certain?” asked Ampharos. Out of the corner of her eye, Eileen saw Drifloon was leaning on Dedenne’s shoulder. He seemed quite serious.

“Very sure,” said Drifloon very tiredly.

Ampharos looked at Drifloon and exclaimed, “Drifloon! Dedenne, get an emergency Blissey, he looks like he’s about to faint!” Ampharos fussed over Drifloon and Dedenne before turning to Eileen. “You come with me, we’re going to alert the Expedition Society.

Ampharos walked out of the corridor and Eileen accompanied him. Ampharos looked back as if to double-check something then walked up to the Connection Nexus then tapped on the blue holographic surface, then seemed to be keying something in the gigantic orb.

“What are you doing, sir?” asked Eileen, feeling unconsciously that she should address the Pokémon respectfully.

“Ah! I’m sending out a signal to the other Pokémon of the Expedition Society throughout the continent. It’s a red alert,” said Ampharos cheerfully, “they’ll be arriving from their expeditions in a few moments.”

“Wow! Such cool technology!” said Eileen. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“Yes, it’s amazing,” said Ampharos. “Now … I need you to tell the entire Expedition Society about this threat. Since Drifloon has been a trusted member of the Expedition Society, I’m sure that an attack is coming but he’s been KO’ed, so you need to do it. Can I trust you?”

Eileen nodded. “I’m not afraid of public speaking,” she said and she wondered how she knew. It seemed like she had a lot of practice from a long time ago.

“Alright, I’ll show you the way there … ,” said Ampharos, then turned around left and right confused. “It’s this way,” he said after a moment or two’s consideration, then descended the stairs into the central atrium. “Tada!” he said, “you’ll tell the Pokémon here.”

The atrium was already slowly filling with Pokémon, each burst of light stepped out a team of two to three Pokémon or even a solo Pokémon. One particularly dazzling light brought in four black weasel-like creatures with white overgrown claws and a red feather on one of their ears. They looked as if they were itching for a fight as they playfully fought between themselves while waiting for the announcement to begin.

After a few minutes, a tiny humanoid faerie like Pokémon with a humongous mouth sticking out of the back of her head came rushing. (Gah! What is that thing on its head?!) “Ampharos! What is the meaning of this!”

“That? Well all will be revealed soon, Mawile,” said Ampharos, upbeat. “When this room is two-thirds full we’ll begin.” He waves his flipper-hands vaguely indicating the central atrium and the Pokémon mildly milling about waiting for the red alert meeting to begin.

“I sure hope so,” said Mawile.

10 Minutes Later …

* * *

“Welcome friends!” projected Ampharos. “I have gathered you today to discuss a matter of great importance! It has recently come to my attention that a group of renegade Pokémon are attempting to take over the Water Continent and their first strike will be directed at Lively Town!”

The room broke into an instant _Uproar_ of confusion and anger.

“How dare they?!” “Here, Lively Town, are you sure?” “I’ll give it my all to defend Lively Town!” “Wait … ”

“Yes, I’m sure you’re all very eager to learn how I acquired this information,” said Ampharos confidently. “Well, Mawile and I suspected there was rogue activity in the Snowy Mountains, so we sent Drifloon to investigate. You may know Drifloon as the one part of Team Nobility. He has returned conveying this information however, he is too tired to speak today. Instead, he brought back with him a Cyndaquil,” and Ampharos made a wide gesture indicating Eileen. “Her name is Eileen and she has escaped with Drifloon from the camp. Now she will tell us what occurred.”

All eyes in the room were on Eileen at that moment. She never felt so self-conscious before as the eyes of many Pokémon looked at her. She had a sense of déjà vu, recollecting the time when Chespin announced her to the camp of Pokémon. However, these eyes were friendlier, though they were still judging her. She could feel their judgemental eyes boring into her as Ampharos motioned for her to move forward. “H-H-Hi,” she began, stuttering.

Absolute silence. “I’m Eileen,” she said to the audience. “I came here with Drifloon.” The words sounded so empty as she struttered them. (I wish I could hide in a hole. Why? Why? I told Ampharos I could do it but I’ll take all I said back.) She quivered as she absorbed the number of eyes that were watching her.

Feeling her anxiety rise to a fever pitch as her heart pumped full of adrenaline as though she had been _Intimidate_ d with while holding an Adrenaline Orb. “Chespin-brought-me-to-his-camp-and-he-announced-that-he-would-strike-Lively-Town,” she blurted. “Thank-you-any-questions?”

“Chespin?” yelled out the four black weasels in unison. “We’ll catch him if it takes us our lives!” shouted the four. “He bested us at Snowy Precipice,” said the Lead Sneasel.

A pink and white Pokémon raised their hand. “Why has Chespin decided to raise an attack against Lively Town?”

Eileen stared blankly at the questioner before her mind made the connection. “I don’t know but he has something called the Dark Pages. He believes it will cause the fall of Lively Town.”

A ripple of fear coursed through the room like a _Shockwave_. “The Dark Pages?” gasped some as the Pokémon glanced at each other nervously and shuffled their feet.

Eileen could feel the panic reaching a crescendo.

Mawile stepped calmly forward, “Thank you Eileen for the forewarning. Now, Ampharos,” said Mawile meaningfully.

Ampharos eagerly stepped forward. “Explorers! Tomorrow there’ll be an attack on Lively Town! Spend the rest of today preparing for battle to be joined tomorrow! That’s all, dismissed!” said Ampharos with a cheer in his voice.

The Pokémon slowly filed out but some remained, chatting over the meeting. Mawile looked at Eileen and introduced herself, “I’m Mawile. You said something about the Dark Pages?”

“Yes,” squeaked Eileen, barely managing to keep direct eye contact instead of letting her eyes glance at the gaping jaws of the back of Mawile’s head.

“Come with me to Café Connection,” said Mawile. “There’s someone I would like you to meet. An old colleague/acquaintance of mine.”


	13. The Dark Truth

As Eileen walked through the bustling town square of Lively Town, Mawile leading her towards Cafe Connection. She looked around in amazement, taking in the sights and sounds of the town. The colourful array of Pokemon going about their daily business, a biped chameleon bartering with a biped cat with a gold piece on its forehead. A living sarcophagus reminiscent of those that held mummies in Egypt fondling a gold bar. A floating set of keys opening a red coloured chest with gold accents. It all felt so alien and yet so mundane at the same time.

She then noticed Mawile walking up to a building on her left. At first glance, the purple building was easily the largest one in the town square, and was reminiscent of restaurants from [redacted]. Mawile stood at the doorway gesturing to Eileen to follow her in. “Is this the place?” Asked Eileen as she approached Mawile. “Yes. We should find my acquaintance inside.” She responded as she walked into the building, Eileen shrugging as she followed.

On the inside of the building seemed much larger than what it looked like outside, the purple floor had several red coloured rugs throughout the interior, there were several tables situated at the corners of the room. Each having a small congregation of Pokémon sitting around them engaged in lively conversation while enjoying their drinks. At the centre of the room stood a familiar figure with a juvenile purple Kangaskhan in its pouch as Eileen thought back to the statue she saw in the Snowy Forest. 

Mawile pointed towards the back of the room, there sat a lone orange and black coloured turtle. “That’s who we are looking for. His name is Torkoal, and well, although he doesn’t have an exact profession, he is well-versed in the ancient folklore of many lands.” The duo then proceeded to make their way up the stairs, towards Torkoal. Upon nearing Torkoal, Eileen could make out several interesting details, such as a constant stream of smoke rising from a hole at the top of his shell. How he got around without causing the surrounding Pokémon respiratory damage was beyond her. She glanced upwards briefly and saw a small vent letting the smoke out of the Café.

“Torkoal.” Upon hearing his name, the pokemon let out a slight chuckle, “Ah! Mawile it’s been a while.” He turned around and gave them both a wide smile, to Eileen it seemed like one that a caring old grandfather might give to his visiting grandchildren. “And who might this be?” Torkoal asked, gesturing to Eileen. “I’m Eileen, Mr Torkoal.” she answered, feeling that she needed to show the appropriate amount of respect for an elder. “Oh, there’s no need for honorifics, just call me Torkoal. Anyways why have you come to find me? I’m sure there’s more to this meeting than just catching up,” enquired Torkoal as he turned his attention to Mawile. “Well, there’s a group of Pokémon planning an attack on Lively Town and they have uncovered the Dark Pages. I tried searching for any references to them but most accounts varied from recordings of hearsay to alleged firsthand accounts of Pokémon wielding its power. Most of these accounts also seem to contradict each other, I was hoping that you would be able to shed some light on this situation.”

Torkoal sat silently, lost in his thoughts. Then he slowly started laughing, almost inaudibly at first but slowly getting louder till he was roaring with laughter. “Oh my! 🤣🤣 The Dark Pages? Those were just made as a nasty bluff by Darkrai ages ago to intimidate his opponents deterring any who tried to seek him out. He claimed that it had the power to make anything written on it come true, many Pokémon have lost their lives trying to attain this elusive power when in reality it had no actual power but it seems like the myth stuck around.”

(Wait what?! The magical artefact that Chespin got was a dud this whole time?! And that we have all been duped for who knows how long?) “So does that mean that we are safe?” Torkoal let out a small laugh when he saw the _stun_ ned look plastered upon Eileen’s face, resembling a shocked Pikachu. “Aside from the upcoming attack, yes. Chespin still believes in the Dark Pages so he will be quite overconfident. Try to use that to your advantage.”

Mawile turned to Torkoal. “This piece of information is extremely helpful. Thank you, Torkoal!” she said gratefully.

“No problem, Mawile, just remember to stay safe,” said Torkoal as the pair started to leave Café Connection.

“I will,” promised Mawile. The two of them made their way outside without further ado. Upon exiting the building, Eileen turned to Mawile and asked:

“So if the Dark Pages are powerless can’t we try to inform Chespin so he won’t try to attack us?”

Mawile gave the idea some thought before answering, “I doubt it, from the way you described him earlier, he seemed to be the type to not listen to his foe until he has triumphed over them. Besides, his belief blinds him to the truth.”

“I guess you are right … I just don’t want anyone to get hurt over this!”

“Believe me, I don’t want this either but I don’t think we have a choice right now.”


	14. The Storm Approaches

Mawile and Eileen walked back to the Expedition Society in silence. Eileen looked up in the air, there were dark clouds in the distance. She felt a sense of ominous doom and several large seabirds with their giant beaks and with wings tipped with blue carrying around small brown sling bags. The sight reminded her of mailmen.

The Town Square was hustling with activity, Pokémon from all walks of life were moving around preparing from the upcoming battle. The Chameleon like Pokémon appeared to be making a killing from selling various items as their shopfront was increasingly crowded by Pokémon that she vaguely recognized from the meeting Ampharos had called for and conducted. Even Pokémon which were very small such as a tiny electric bug was scuttling around, and she had almost stepped on it!

When they reached the Central Atrium, Mawile waved to a Pokémon. As the Pokémon hopped closer to them, Eileen observed that it looked like a prehistoric bird, complete with a very vibrant plumage. “Yes, Mawile?” asked the bird Pokémon respectfully.

“I have some things to do,” said Mawile. “Show Eileen the ropes around here and help her prepare for the fight ahead.” Mawile turned to Eileen. “You should probably try to get as ready as possible for tomorrow,” she said kindly. “If you need me I’ll be in my office. Archen, I’m counting on you.”

She nodded and then turned and made her way up the stairs.

Archen turned to Eileen and said, “Hello, my name’s Archen. I’m the specialist in the sky expeditions in Expedition Society!”

“Hello Archen, I’m Eileen,” replied Eileen politely.

Archen waved his wings. “I know. You’re the one who brought us the news with Drifloon.”

“Oh! Drifloon! Can I see him?”

“He’s resting at the moment,” replied Archen. “You really shouldn’t bother him. His team’s tending to him, so I think he’s got enough TLC for the day.”

“His team?”

“Yes, Drifloon belongs to a Pokémon Expedition Team known as Team Nobility,” answered Archen. “His team members are a Purrloin and a Skiddo.”

“Skiddo?” asked Eileen. “Chespin used to call me that.”

Archen raised an eye ridge. (Are those eyebrows? Do birds have eyebrows?) “ _Skiddo_ , eh? Well he’s not wrong. You look inexperienced like those two kids.”

“Kids?” asked Eileen.

“Ah my juniors,” said Archen. “They joined up a year ago when Ampharos revoked the rule that kids couldn’t be recruited. They went on and saved the world. They’re off in who-knows-where trying to look for the Ancient Treasures. They didn’t turn up for the meeting. Maybe their Connection Orb got out of reach. I hope they’re safe.” Archen sighed.

“Well, I’m off to make preparations for the upcoming battle. I’ve already bought my supplies at Kecleon and withdrawn a Reviver Seed from the storage box,” said Archen. “I’m left with just practicing my moves for the battle ahead.”

“Practicing? Moves?” echoed Eileen lamely. “Is that how Chespin used those vines?” she recalled.

“Well Chespin is a grass Pokémon,” said Archen.

“What are moves?” Eileen asked. “What are Reviver Seeds?”

Suddenly Archen is possessed by the inexplicable force that is The Editor and his eyes turn blankly and said, “Because death comes to us all and this is a means to avoid it.”

“When a Pokémon gets KO’d, a Reviver Seed invokes its essence and automatically revives a Pokémon, just like its name. And as for moves, well … I mean haven’t you used moves before?”

“No,” said Eileen.

“Well,” said Archen, now mystified. “Can’t you spit fire?”

“I can?” asked Eileen blankly.

“You’re a fire-type Pokémon. I’m sure you know _Ember_ ,” said Archen. “See this is a move.” Archen suddenly vanished and there were three Archen, their outlines indistinct, but Eileen couldn’t tell which was the real Archen. Eileen looked amazed and when Archen stopped _Double Team_ ing, asked: “Can I do that?”

“I don’t think Cyndaquil can learn _Double Team_ ,” said Archen skeptically. “I still think you can shoot fire. Try it.”

(Well if I can breathe fire, I should just try to exhale fire, right?) Eileen inhaled a huge breath, and then expelled it with a vicious force. This merely created a gust of wind that ruffled Archen’s feathers a tiny bit.

Archen hopped backwards on one foot. “Hey!” he protested. “Don’t do that! What if you set _me_ on fire? I might be a rock-type and fire might be ineffective against me but I still don’t appreciate burnt feathers!”

“Well I didn’t breathe fire,” said Eileen. “So how do you do it?”

“I don’t know,” said Archen crossly.

“But you know how to use moves,” said Eileen.

“I can’t teach you how to breathe fire, this is beyond me,” said Archen, wringing his wings in defeat. “It’s just an instinct that most Pokémon have.”

(So being human means I can’t use moves?) thought Eileen to herself. (How am I supposed to defend myself?)

“Teach me how to fight,” she insisted at Archen.

“I can’t,” wailed Archen, “ _I_ can’t breathe fire after all.” 

“Well then, do you know someone who can help?”

“Nope. We don’t see many fire-type Pokémon around these parts,” said Archen, “sorry, kid. I know how much you want to learn a move but it’s probably for the best if you let your instincts guide you. Well, Swirlix is going to serve food anytime now. We’ll all need energy for tomorrow! So eat up when you get to dinner and quickly! Or else Swirlix will eat your food.”

“Swirlix?”

“She’s our resident cook and a glutton to the core. She’s simply a bottomless pit and will eat any food lying around. Be careful or she’ll eat you too.”

Eileen gulped. (Who is this fearsome Pokémon?)

“Well come on, this way’s the dining room.” Archen led Eileen towards the right corridor.


	15. The Interlude

The dining room was rather simple. There was a long wooden table stacked with plates of food. There was a vase of three flowers: white, yellow and red in the middle of the table. “Here’s our dinner,” exclaimed Archen excitedly. “We’d better start eating or else Swirlix will eat our share,” panicked Archen.

Archen pointed a wing at a fluffy white cotton candy with a stuck out tongue that was already eating at the table, tucking away food as if she was an experienced competitive eater. “Come on, hurry,” urged Archen taking a place at the table and patting beside him, inviting Eileen to sit beside him.

Eileen bit into the food. (Scrumptious,) she thought, especially all of that walking and talking earlier. She focused on eating on the Apples arrayed in front of her when she realised Archen was doing the same and then in a matter of minutes, she had completed her meal in record time.

“I’m stuffed,” said Archen.

Eileen looked up and realized there was more than her, Archen and Swirlix in the room. There was a two-tailed otter, Mawile, Ampharos, Dedenne, a gray rabbit and a levitating yellow-white starlike Pokémon who all were close to finishing their meals.

“Who are those Pokémon?” she whispered to Archen, pointing out the three unfamiliar Pokémon.

“Ah, that’s Buizel,” he nodded at the otter, “and that’s Bunnelby. Buizel’s the specialist of underwater explorations; Bunnelby is the specialist for underground explorations, though he also explores aboveground. The last one’s Jirachi. Who’s the astronomer around here.”

Eileen nodded. In the short span of that introduction, the rest of the Pokémon had already completed their meal and were relaxing somewhat.

Ampharos suddenly announced, “Dedenne, I’d like you to send out a message to all Lively Town residents to evacuate by tomorrow morning. Lapras has already been informed and is ready to make multiple trips overnight and rescue teams have contributed a sizable contingent to aid Lapras in the evacuation by carrying Pokémon to the nearest other continent.

“Also, there has been a message in the Connection Orb that there will be a meeting tomorrow morning, I just wanted to remind everyone to please report for the meeting,” continued Ampharos. Eileen admired his charisma. “If you are done with preparations, please go to bed. You will need your energy tomorrow. Eileen, you can bunk in with Swirlix.”

Ampharos gestured at Swirlix who was currently licking a plate clean. (Wait how does Swirlix cook with no thumbs or arms even????) struck Eileen out of the blue.

“Swirlix, what are you doing?” asked the otter Buizel.

“I’m licking the plate clean, don’t want to waste food,” said Swirlix. “Did someone need me?”

“Yes, that’s disgusting,” sighed Buizel.

“Swirlix, do you mind bunking with Eileen tonight?” asked Mawile on a more serious note.

“What’s an Eileen? Can I eat it?” asked Swirlix.

“I’m Eileen and no you can’t,” said Eileen, slightly offended at the cotton candy Pokémon. “Eat me, I mean.”

“Well, I was hoping it was a kind of dessert,” said Swirlix kind of disappointed. “Sure, you can stay with me! I’ll enjoy it. I love company, it’s the next best thing to food.”

“That’s settled then,” said Ampharos. “Well I’ll expect you all early in the morning for roll call. Now I need to attend to some important matters.” Ampharos then briskly walks off with Mawile hot on his heels.

The other Pokémon turned to each other whispering “Has Chief Ampharos always been this competent?” “He fits like a glove to his role for once.” and so on.

Swirlix caught Eileen’s attention by jumping up and down. “I’ll show you where you can sleep.” Swirlix bounced along the corridors and brought her to a room with two beds of straw.

“Is this a hotel?” Eileen said as she pointed a paw towards the bed while holding a book to her chest with her other paw.

“No, these are the dormitories,” said the Swirlix, confused slightly. “Where’d you get that book?”

“What book?” said Eileen who was not holding a book.

Swirlix tilted her head 45° and three black question marks appeared on each side of her head. Swirlix took another look and realized Eileen was right—there wasn’t a book in sight. “Well, I can’t read anyway!” declared Swirlix. “It’s a waste of time and rather hard without hands.”

Eileen recalled her question and decided it would be better not to ask it.

“Well, you can go to sleep first,” said Swirlix. “I still need to wash the plates. I enjoy licking the plates clean.”

(Eww … ! Does she mean she’s going to lick  _ mine _ too? Wait a second, that means … Oh no!) thought Eileen.

Swirlix had already hopped away happily while Eileen was struggling to keep her dinner down, reminding herself her food hadn’t been tainted by this sentient cotton candy.

She collapsed on the straw bed clutching at her stomach. “Ah … ” she said, as she drifted off to sleep fraught with thoughts of cotton candy becoming bigger and bigger until it eventually swallowed her whole … 


	16. Day of Reckoning

Eileen immediately lurched forwards, waking up suddenly just as the teeth of Swirlix were about to snap down and swallow her whole. She woke up in cold sweat and there was Swirlix prodding her with her foot.

“Are you okay?” she asked concerned.

Eileen hesitated before saying, “Yes, I’m okay, thank you.” She shuddered inwardly. (There’s no way that could be real … right?)

She looked at the Swirlix again and then felt a twinge of irrational fear before she quietened it.

Swirlix shifted her stance and said cheerily: “Well, roll call is soon. Better not be late. I’ll be going now.” Swirlix departed and Eileen couldn’t suppress the inexplicable sense of relief that washed over her. She scolded herself, (Swirlix is a nice Pokémon, I shouldn’t be afraid of her.) She shook herself from side to side. (Well she said they were waiting outside, weren’t they? I had better go now.)

She paused to gather the stray straw and put the bed together nicely since she had visibly _Thrashed_ and scattered the straw.

While Ampharos did his roll call, Eileen let her mind wander slightly as she saw the room filling up with Pokémon she saw at dinner and other Pokémon. She saw the Staraptor and Magikarp, and the Staraptor gave her a small wave with her wing.

“Well,” Ampharos said, “do your best out there team! Well, ahem, I would say but this very morning we will begin the final preparations on our defences by briefing the game plan that Mawile and I have come up with to combat the incoming intruders.”

“You tell them!” screamed a familiar piercing cry of a Magikarp. “If any of these rapscallions come up to me, I’ll beat them up and send them packing! Mark my words! They’ll never cross me again!”

“Well said!” replied Ampharos who scratched his head and the _Adamant_ —no, belligerent nature of the Magikarp.

“Everybody this is the game plan. We need to pretend life is happening as per usual,” said Ampharos.

“But!” called out a white dog Pokémon. “How will we fake that if all the residents have evacuated Lively Town?”

“Well, that's a good question. The answer is that the Chespin and his band don’t know who resides in Lively Town. They have been keeping out of the way and most are wanted criminals who don’t dare to show their face in Lively Town as it’s a hotspot for exploration and expedition teams.”

“Thank you,” said the dog Pokémon, dignified.

“While we go around pretending to live out our daily lives, we’ll keep an eye out and an ear tuned for any suspicious movement. Once that happens, raise the alarm immediately, and we’ll begin battle in earnest. I’m sure that any one of us is worth ten of one of them!” Ampharos pumped his flipperhand up in the air.

The room agreed boisterously. Eileen shrank back a little. She still had no idea how to fight and she was considering sitting out the fight, lying low in the expedition society building. (After all, I'll just get myself hurt.)

“Well my good fellows,” said Ampharos, “let us put the plan into motion. You are all dismissed. May the battle be glorious, they shall sing of this day for generations to come. Arceus is on our side!”

It was at this moment Eileen realized this side was equally bloodthirsty. (I hope Ampharos is just saying this to rile up the crowd, they wouldn’t actually kill each other right?)

“Ah yes,” said Ampharos. “Don’t worry about the aftermath. Officer Magnezone has kindly agreed to send us Magnemite as reinforcements to capture those who have been subdued. Once Chespin and his band of thieves are spotted, we’ll launch an all out attack on any that enter Lively Town. Don’t pursue those that escape or leave Lively Town. Do you understand?”

There was a murmur of acknowledgement. Then Ampharos said, “Well then, you know what to do! Good luck with the battle today!” Ampharos then dismissed the crowd who automatically began to disperse, intent on carrying out the first part of Ampharos’ plan.

“Hey, Eileen,” said Archen presently. Eileen stepped back startled as she realized that the birdlike Pokémon was beside her. “We’re supposed to go around our daily lives right? Is there anywhere you’d like to see in Lively Town, since you’ven’t been here before. Well … it’s not like there’s much to see … the shops are still open though. Most of the shopkeepers pack a punch.”

Eileen gave a quick glance at the disappearing Swirlix who was heading towards the kitchen. It wasn’t quite hard to guess what the gluttonous cotton candy was getting up to. “Sure,” said Eileen, “I only went to visit Café Connection yesterday. Are there any other places around Lively Town?”

“Well, follow me,” said Archen, who led Eileen out in the Town Square. “That is the Kecleon Shop,” he said, pointing to the shop with the storefront of the face of a green lizard. “He sells useful items that Explorers all need. He also sells daily necessities. The Shop used to be known as the Kecleon Brothers since there used to be a purple Kecleon, but he disappeared and the green Kecleon appears to be tight-lipped on the matter.”

Archen went around introducing the shops to Eileen one by one. He explained the functions of the Hawluncha’s Slam School, the Café Connection, and the other various shops in great detail, and she felt like he had done this many, many times before since he seemed to be very used to explaining things. (Well except for that time when he was teaching me moves.)

“So this is Meowth’s Theater,” said Archen. “Meowth’s Theater is—”

“A sentret!” screeched a Sneasel, who’d spotted the intruder with his _Keen Eye_. “A sentret!” shouted another Sneasel. “SENTRET!” screeched the third Sneasel. “SeNTrEt!” shrilled the fourth.

“Well that can’t be good … ” muttered Archen nervously.

“And so it begins,” said Meowth. “Time to get my camera.”


	17. The Battle Begins

Suddenly a commotion broke out at the gates of Lively Town. Even from there Eileen could hear the familiar roaring that so rudely woke her up, courtesy of a certain bipedal dragon.

“The fight’s begun!” yelled Archen over the noise. “I’m going to help them! Eileen you should come too!” Archen without waiting dashed towards the fray without waiting for Eileen to catch up.

(Oh no … ,) thought Eileen, (I don’t want to be caught up in this mess … )

Still, she made her way cautiously towards the fray at a distance. She eased over and the bridge came into view and saw the clear line of where explorers and thieves met and it seemed as if the Explorers were pushing the thieves back.

In the centre, she saw Chespin upon the back of his lieutenant Houndoom who was breathing fire over the crowd of Pokémon while Chespin was lobbing Blast Seeds into the crowd. His second-in-command, Haunter was attacking Pokémon, but mostly took a bystander role floating in the sky. Every _Seed Bomb_ Chespin threw into the crowd, Haunter began to list out his KO’s in an overenthusiastic voice. “DOUBLE KILL!” “TRIPLE KILL!” “KILL STREAK!”

At this point, Chespin looked like he might break through the centre singlehandedly. (As chess players would know controlling the centre is very important during the early game,) as she recalled [redacted] saying that from her past.

Faintly, Eileen could hear over the din the very familiar voice of a certain fish with anger management issues, “You’ll never beat me!! I’m invincible!! I can fly!! I have a Physical Move called Magikarp’s Revenge!! You don’t want to try it!! It has a 120 base power!! You’ll rue the day you were ever hatched!!”

Suddenly, Eileen felt inspired by Magikarp’s words. Turns out Magikarp was a Bard and gave Eileen a d10 Bardic Inspiration. (If I beat Chespin, this would all come to an end right?) Eileen thought to herself. (Yes. I can do it! After all, if that Magikarp can, I can too! And if Swirlix can cook without hands, I can surely fight!)

Immediately, without further delay, Eileen plunged into the battle. Surprisingly she managed to bypass several of the thieves without getting hit. (Nice! I must be better than I thought!) she thought. Then the next thought, (Wait, what am I doing?! How am I supposed to beat Chespin? I don’t know how to fight! or breathe fire!) she thought as she tripped and rolled between the legs of a Hitmonlee, successfully tripping the Hitmonlee in the process, in effect delivering a pseudo- _Low Sweep_ , which was super effective.

She shook herself quickly and stood up. She looked around and realized that the expedition society was being beaten back by Chespin alone. She could see them just out of reach—she was so close! Suddenly a bright dazzling light began to flood the area as Houndoom began to change into a more menacing version of Houndoom with an even larger skull embedded on its chest as pointed bone began to grow out of its body. (Ahhhh what just happened??!! He’s so much scarier now!)

As her fear mounted, suddenly Houndoom and Chespin were in front of her.

Chespin laughed maniacally, “Well we meet again, Skiddo!”

Eileen nervously looked up and stared into Chespin’s eyes. They glowed with maniacal glee at the surrounding carnage. “I hope you appreciate my handiwork although it could use more fallen enemies to fit the glorious conqueror aesthetic wouldn’t you agree Houndoom?”

“Certainly Chief! There must only be the best imagery for such a grand prize!” spoke Houndoom. Although he’d been carrying Chespin from the beginning of the battle, he sounded hardly winded as he bared his fangs at Eileen as in a mock of a smile.

“Maybe a picture of me standing over Ampharos … That would surely capture the imagination of the viewer. Ah but let’s focus on the matter at hand … ” Chespin sneered as he looked down at Eileen. Eyes full of malice.

“Now, you have been a very disloyal subordinate haven’t you? After all you did desert us … Even after we fed you and gave you a place to stay … Now that won’t do. There will be justice in this world. As the Lord of The Water Continent I hereby sentence you to death … Houndoom, eliminate this traitor with extreme prejudice.”

“Gladly, Sire!”

Houndoom pounced. Eileen screamed in terror and suddenly a breath of flame shot out of her mouth. She choked on the fire but Houndoom appeared to power through it like a boss and pinned Eileen to the ground. “Fire can’t hurt _me_ fool,” he hissed, “after all I have the ability _Flash Fire_. I just got stronger!”

Houndoom prepared to deliver the killing blow on Eileen as he opened his jaws, revealing rows and rows and rows of sharp teeth to Eileen’s hallucinating mind. Suddenly there was another flash of bright light as an earth shattering roar followed:

“The _Magikarp’s Revenge!_ ”

A great blue body with dappled white spots suddenly flopped onto the entire bridge. The sheer enormousness of the body crushed many of the Pokémon, explorers and thieves alike. The Pokémon thrashed, screaming “GGROOOHHH” and Houndoom was hit was a slap of its _Aqua Tail_. Immediately due to Houndoom’s poor defenses, Houndoom was KO’d as the giant blue snake proceeded to use the move _Thrash_ and began taking out the trash mainly because there was no water for the snake to swim in. The move was so powerful that if the giant snake did not have the IQ Nontraitor already learned from eating many blue gummis, it would have hurt the explorers greatly as well. A Staraptor flew above the serpent, directing its attacks.

When Houndoom had fallen, Chespin had dropped and rolled off Houndoom’s back. He’d ended up with some bruises. He looked around him in a 360° turn and realised that the appearance of the sudden evolution of a Gyadaros from a Magikarp (and a sassy one at that!) had turned the tide of the battle quite literally.

As he turned, he witnessed an old Torkoal scream “Don’t make this old Pokémon body teach you young’uns some respect with these old bones!” as he _Body Slam_ med the thieves’ Kommo-o and knocked it out in one hit (after it had been weakened considerably by Mawile’s _Play Rough_ ).

Eileen got back onto her feet and triumphantly declared to Chespin. “Oh you are done for!”


	18. The Turning Tide

“NOOOOO!!! How could this have happened?” yelled Chespin in a mix of rage and sadness. “My plan! My beautiful plan! Gone! The Dark Pages were supposed to guarantee our victory!” He saw his army crumble beneath the onslaught of the Expedition Society.

“It’s over Chespin! We have the high ground!” exclaimed Eileen _Leer_ ing down on Chespin.

“You underestimate my power! This isn’t over! I’ll take you all down myself!” yelled Chespin as he lunged towards Eileen, lashing his vines at her with killing intent.

Eileen screamed in fear as she quickly backpedaled avoiding Chespin’s attack by a hair’s breadth, quickly losing her earlier bravado. (Oh lawd he’s comin’! This is bad, this is really bad he’s so much more experienced at combat than I am! Heck I can’t even breathe fire yet!) Quickly analyzing her situation Eileen came to the conclusion that her only hope to beat Chespin would be to wait until he made a mistake before attacking. (But first I have to survive that long … )

Chespin glowered menacingly at Eileen before charging headlong at her in an attempt to _Take_ her _Down_. Eileen seeing this rolled to the side just barely avoiding Chespin as he ran past her, quickly getting to her feet. She had little respite before a _Seed Bomb_ sailed through the air towards her. Thinking quickly, Eileen ran forwards escaping the subsequent blast, however, this brought her closer to Chespin who deployed his vines and sent them at her. Seeing that she was going too fast to change directions, Eileen broke into a roll going under the vines and ploughing into Chespin knocking him flat. Eileen quickly recovered and ran off to the side to avoid the returning vines.

“Heh, it seems like I have underestimated you… Are you sure you have no fighting experience?” Chespin spoke in a low, malice-filled voice. “Well … I guess some of it was because you were angry and not thi—” Chespin charged headlong into her while she was distracted sending her flying into a wall. The impact left her winded. As she struggled to get up, as Chespin prepared to throw a _Seed Bomb_ at her. “First rule of combat: never get distracted that’ll just leave you vulnerable! Too bad you had to learn this the hard way!” Chespin threw the _Seed Bomb_ at Eileen, pitching it like a baseball. Eileen jumped to the side avoiding getting hit directly by the attack but still being thrown through the air by the shockwave of the explosion.

Eileen landed in a heap and forced herself up. (There is no way I can beat him, I need to get help!) So she did the only thing she could, she ran towards the battle. At this stage the defenders were beating back the remaining thieves, Haunter was being attacked by Drifloon, Purrloin and Skiddo, needless to say it wasn’t going well for Haunter. Gyadaros was still laying waste to whoever was foolish enough to stand against it. Considering her options, Eileen ran straight for Gyadaros, surely Chespin wouldn't to stupid enough to attack Gyadaros head on right?

“You’re not getting away that easily! I’m going to end you!” bellowed Chespin who ran after her, using _Take Down_ as he went, aiming to run her down mercilessly. Seeing this happen over her shoulder, Eileen’s veins pumped full of adrenaline allowing her to run faster than she ever did before jumping over Gyarados landing square on the top and scrabbling and sliding off on the other edge. (That’ll stop him right? I mean that Gyadaros is at least ten times larger than him logically that would …) “Oh no … ” Eileen muttered in disbelief as Chespin crashed into Gyarados somehow sending the fearsome beast flying as the water snake writhed through the air. Seeing her shocked face Chespin laughed, “Did you think that that Gyadaros would stop me?! I’ll have you know that I’m level 90! One doesn’t simply become the leader of the thieves guild by just signing up! Now come here and die!!! Quietly, if possible.”

  
  


(Oh come on! Why does he have to be so OP. AH!!! He’s running at me, time to leg it!) Eileen made a mad dash towards the Expedition Society. “Ampharos! Ampharos! Chespin’s-after-me-he-just-took-out-the-big-snek!” A look of confusion passed over Ampharos’s face

“What? How?” he questioned. “No time! he’s gaining on me!” Eileen yelled out in terror. Overhearing the exchange was the four Sneasel, the lead Sneasel announced to his companions. “There’s Chespin! Let’s show him what for! It’s time for our revenge!” The four of them charged at Chespin extending their claws preparing to _Slash_ him, only for them to be blown away by a well placed _Seed Bomb_. “You call that an attack? Pathetic! I’ve seen Sunkern do better! You should just quit your jobs while you’re at it!”

“We’re blasting off again!!!” yelled the first three Sneasel. “SNEASEL!” shrieked the fourth, as they flew into the air disappearing in a flash of light. _Ding_! 

Chespin stalked forwards menacingly. “Going somewhere? We have so much to do you can’t leave just yet… When I'm done with you, you’ll be leaving in a casket. HAHAHAHA!” Ampharos raised his hand and stepped forward in front of Eileen protectively.

(He’s delusional!) thought Eileen as she ran for dear life, cowering behind Ampharos. “That’s far enough villain!” proclaimed Ampharos. “Ah the Dashing Wanderer himself… I’m going to enjoy ripping you a new one!”

“That’s assuming you can defeat me!” retorted Ampharos, as a spark of blue electricity pulsated through his body visibly.

“That's not an assumption! That's a fact!” screamed Chespin, as he rushed forwards, launching himself right at Ampharos just as Ampharos released an _Electro Ball_ at his target. Chespin ran straight into the oncoming projectile. The result was a large explosion that left a massive dust cloud in its wake. Ampharos stared into the cloud seemingly waiting for something to happen. A few tense seconds passed and Ampharos lowered his guard and called out to a passing Pelipper. Then launching out to the dust cloud like a bullet was Chespin seemingly no worse for wear using _Take Down_. He crashed into Ampharos like a tsunami, throwing the larger pokemon back several meters.

“How … ” groaned Ampharos lying on the ground where he landed on his back roughly.

“You see Ampharos looks can be deceiving … Now die please,” said Chespin, heaving from the exertion. As he raised his vines and started to dish out punishment onto the fallen leader. Seeing this Eileen ran forwards determined to save Ampharos.

“No! I won’t let you do this! You have to respect your elders!” yelled Eileen.

“Oh shut up, weaklings die. Big Deal. Go cry a river if you want. Now be quiet while I murder this imbecile,” sneered Chespin.

Eileen ran forwards at full throttle rapidly closing the distance between her and Chespin. (I’ll make it! I’ll stop this maniac from caus—oh curd!) as she tripped on a rock in the road. She screamed as she fell, simultaneously feeling a strange sensation in her throat, a pocket of heat building up in her body akin to a building sneeze. Soon she couldn’t take the pressure anymore and released a large stream of flames at Chespin, as she breathed fire for the second time for the day in the form of an awe inspiring _Flamethrower._ The flames made contact with Chespin, setting him alight instantly, he screamed in agony as the flames covered him, he struggled in vain to beat the fire out, his once rapid movements slowing down hampered by the injuries sustained from the earlier fights and _Take Down_ recoils. He fell to his knees still trying to beat the fires out before finally succumbing to his injuries as he fell face first onto the ground unconscious but still breathing.

“Did we just win?” questioned Eileen.

“CHIEF CHESPIN IS DOWN!” screamed thief-band Noivern. “RETREAT! MAKE FOR THE CAMP!”

The flying contingent of the thieves guild beat a hasty retreat leaving the ground dwellers to fend for themselves. They were quickly defeated by the defenders. Eileen breathed a sigh of relief, they won.

Magnemite filled the air that day as the thieves were quickly rounded up and arrested by the reinforcements sent by Officer Magnezone.


	19. Victory

Everybody went to sleep soon after the battle. Sentries were posted in various places throughout Lively Town but Eileen wasn’t sure of their exact locations or the strategy. Ampharos and Mawile mainly supervised the duties.

Most of the Pokémon hit the hay after the battle and Eileen also, overexerted from the day’s events, had retired quickly to her bed in Swirlix’s room. The night was peaceful and Eileen had a dreamless sleep.

In the morning when Eileen woke up, there were still plenty of Pokémon on guard about Lively Town. The morale was high but the Pokémon were still tense in case of a counterattack. Eileen learned from Swirlix during a breakfast of berries that Ampharos and Mawile had organized several small rescue teams to search the forest.

In the mid-afternoon, the search teams had reported that there was no sighting of the thieves’ band in the forest and had found traces of their getaway. It was then that Ampharos gave the green light for the residents of Lively Town to return. They arrived home by early evening on Lapras or by flight.

The residents of Lively Town paired with Swirlix had set up a large wooden table covered with foodstuffs which Archen named for Eileen one by one: “... Gummis, Perfect Apples, Mega Donuts, Sweet Chocolate, Four-Leaf Cookies, Apples … they sure went all out at the party.”

Eileen and Archen spared a glance at Swirlix and the cotton candy Pokémon was most disgustingly drooling in anticipation. (Why did I have a nightmare of that Pokémon again?)

As night began to fall, some thoughtful Pokémon brought out electric lamps which the electric-type Pokémon charged with their electricity. Ampharos’ red gem on the centre of his head and the one on his tail glowed brightly and he bore some resemblance to a lighthouse, Eileen realized.

The Pokémon gathered around the table and Ampharos hoisted himself up to address the crowd by standing on a box he had found somewhere, and Eileen felt a sense of déjà vu as he addressed the crowd:

“My friends, today we gather here to celebrate our momentus victory against those fiends who sought to destroy all that we stand for, all that we love and cherish. Yesterday we defended our town from those who would seek us harm, and we prevailed! It was a close fight admittedly; I found myself at the mercy of Chespin hehe … but thanks to Eileen, he has been defeated! Although victory via tripping over a rock is a new one … ” A chorus of laughter broke out throughout the crowd in response to the joke. “I would like to personally thank her for saving me though, it looked like it was the end of me back there… But that’s enough about me, this celebration is about us so rejoice for we earned this celebration. To us!”

At the end of the speech, Eileen and the spectators applauded and cheered for Ampharos, and gave themselves and each other pats on the back. Eileen was roughly given patted on the back by several other Pokémon who congratulated her in admiration and friendliness.

“Now, on your marks, get set,” Ampharos began. Everyone turned towards the food including Eileen, preparing to dig in.

“3.”

“2.”

“1.”

“GO!” shouted all the Pokémon, including Eileen and they all attacked the food.

Munch! Munch! Munch!  
Gobble! Gobble! Slurp!  
[x6]

As her hunger began to feel sated after chewing the various goodies of food on the table, filling her belly, she began to slow down and take stock of her surroundings as she munched her food. Dedenne, who had been originally on her right had wandered off in search of a Yellow Gummi, and she had been replaced by Torkoal who was chewing a Mega Donut contentedly.

It occurred to Eileen that Mawile claimed that Torkoal was an expert on ancient folklore. She asked, “Torkoal, have there been any humans that have been turned to Pokémon before?”

“Yes,” said Torkoal. He started on an Apple.

(There has?!)

“In fact, it’s quite common,” continued Torkoal, after swallowing his food so he could continue politely. “There have been several occurrences in the past ten to twenty years … What’s the interest?”

“Well, I was hoping to go home,” said Eileen in an undertone. “You see, I was human once.”

Torkoal opened his mouth and his chewed Apple mush dropped out of his mouth. “Well, I’ll be,” said Torkoal. “No wonder you didn’t seem like most Pokémon here.”

“Most Pokémon?” asked Eileen curiously as she took another Sweet Chocolate.

“Yes, I’ve had the honour of meeting another human-turned-Pokémon,” replied Torkoal. “There’s an air about you that is similar to them.”

“Oh … ,” said Eileen. “I want to go home. Do you know any way to go home?”

Torkoal looked thoughtfully into the distance for a while before saying: “Well … Not that I know of. However ...”

- _Fin._ -

* * *

Four Sneasel dangled from the tree branches.

“Urk … ”

“Does anybody have an Escape Orb to take us home?”

“No … ouch … ”

“Sneasel … ”

“That means we gotta walk home … urgh … ”


End file.
